


California, I Love That Name

by Ithinkwehaveanemergency



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: California Wildfires, F/F, F/M, Gen, Getting Together, Good Theo Raeken, M/M, McCall Pack, Minor Theo Raeken/Derek Hale, Minor Theo Raeken/Original Male Character(s), Post-Series, Werewolf Hunters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-01-17 08:48:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12362016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/pseuds/Ithinkwehaveanemergency
Summary: For some reason, Derek Hale moves back to Beacon Hills.For some reason, Cora Hale ends up at Scott's front door, with half a pack in tow, instantly becoming best friends with Theo Raeken.Also... a couple members of the McCall pack are having a hard time going after what they actually want.Scott, Corey, Mason, Malia, and most of all Cora, are amused.





	1. California is the Place to Be

**Author's Note:**

> This is just an intro, mostly. This fic will be at least six chapters, but it could be more like ten.
> 
> To eliminate any confusion, because there are a lot of implied/referenced pairings, this is a Thiam and Sterek fic.

In the first few months after Monroe turned tail and ran, Beacon Hills had been mostly quiet.

Stiles finished up a semester with the FBI training program, then was able to transfer to Berkeley for the remainder of his Gen-Ed and criminology degree.  Rafe assured he'd get high recommendations when he returned to Quantico one day.

Lydia took off for college in NYC, just as he came home to California, putting her relationship with Stiles, and even the pack on hiatus. If you asked Stiles, he'll say that it was mutual, but they all know that he's the one who forced her to go, telling her he'd never be satisfied if she turned down studying mathematics at one of the best departments in the world.

Everyone figured they'd get back together eventually and have babies and be disgustingly perfect together, but Lydia had cryptically informed Scott, Liam and Malia that she had bigger and better dreams for both of them in the future, but they weren't together in them.

Scott and Malia had almost immediately left for a three and a half week vacation to Europe after the big showdown with Monroe. They flew home with Jackson and Ethan, letting the pair show them the sights for a couple days before backpacking through the continent, just the two of them.

The supernatural community in Beacon Hills slowly inegrated themselves back into society.

Theo had no official criminal record, so much to Stiles' dismay, the Sheriff gave him a job with the county to help him get on his feet, and out of the spare room at the Geyer residence.  The job was most importantly somewhere it would be easy for Melissa, Derek, and the rest of the pack to keep an eye on him, though Scott and Liam insisted that the Chimera had really changed.

Contingent on the succinct completion of his GED and part-time enrollment in online classes to get an associates degree, he was the official Hazardous Material Specialist for the Parks & Rec department. The BHSD had easily accepted his application (begrudgingly co-written and embellished by Stiles), citing 10 years of work and internship in medical, laboratory and waste management environments. It wasn't NOT true.

Derek had returned permanently, to the surprise of many, accepting the Sheriff's offer of an appropriate position for the county. Having completed his degree in architecture just before the mass murderer accusations, the born-wolf was an usual, but reasonably qualified candidate for Land Use and Environmental Protection Manager. The Parks & Rec department loved him, seeing as land developers and real estate reps were very intimidated by the gruff young man.

He also had the property he owned, and rented space to Theo, for cheap.  They grew to be good friends, espically since the younger wolf sometimes reported directly to him, as head of EP.

Peter had split, and no one was surprised, but Derek, Malia and Scott would sometimes receive random postcards or stupid gifts from places all over the world, and they knew it was him.

The people of the town still turned their heads down in shame or smiled in appreciation when one of the McCall pack or their allies passed by, depending on how their actions during the Anuk-ite's presence.

High school had begun again for the younger pack members. Teachers and students alike had been timidly mending relationships and trying to return to the norm. The unprecedented close friendship between the co-captions of Varisty Lacrosse was a great inspiration the rest of the student body.

School assemblies and town meetings were strange, and extracurricular events at the high school still seemed stilted, but all in all there was peace.

At least on the supernatural front.

The mother nature front, however, had decided to take a stab at destruction.

The weather turned harsh on the west coast. The wind, coupled with hot, dry air pushed California forcefully into wildfire season.

The entire state was on fire.

Beacon Hills, under the diligent protection of a man who prayed he never saw a fire again, remained unscathed, but most of the neighboring counties hadn't been as lucky.

One of the bigger fires in the area had razed an entire preservation that was home to the pack of a nearby county.

So when a clearly distressed young Alpha showed up at the McCall's door with a familiar brunette woman in tow, asking for Derek Hale...

Melissa called everyone.

****

Theo and Derek drove up to Scott's house after their aborted work trip to the edge of the preserve. They hopped out of Theo's truck just as Malia and Liam were walking out the front door.

"Hey guys." Liam sighed. "We wanted to tell you this outside, so that they didn't have to go through that mess again."

"They said it was hunters who started the fire." Malia rushed the words out, like ripping off a bandaid.

Derek's breath hitched, but he nodded slowly.

"Monroe?" Theo asked, tentatively, taking his work hat off and running a hand across his recently buzzed hair.

"We don't know." Malia shook her head. "We don't think she would've bothered to make it look like an accident, though."

"Nah, I don't think so either, but we can't count her out." Derek agreed. "But why did they ask for me?" Derek's eyebrows raised, and suddenly he froze. He sniffed the air around him, struggling to find the scent that was out of place, but powerfully familiar, amidst the comforting smell of Theo and the McCall pack.

"Der..." Malia reached out for him and Derek's eyes flashed as he grabbed her arm roughly, pulling her closer, inhaling her altered scent.

"Cora?" He whispered, looking Malia in the eye with confusion.

Before she could respond, he let go of her, bolting for the front door. As he entered the McCall home, he was certain of what he had smelled on Malia.

He followed the voices into the kitchen and his jaw dropped in shock as he saw his sister's face for the first time in over 9 months.

"Hey, bro." Cora smiled weakly from where she was sitting at the dining table with Scott, Melissa and another wolf, who looked to be no older than Scott.

Cora gingerly stood from the table, and Derek rushed to wrap her in his arms.

"I missed you, too." Cora laughed into his chest, returning the hug awkwardly. "Since when are you a hugger? Did you learn this from Malia? She gave me a very enthusiastic hug when I met her."

"It's a McCall thing, just accept it." Derek shrugged and pulled away to look at her. She wasn't nearly as tan as when he had last seen her, somewhere in Mexico, and the smudges of dirt across her face made her look almost sickly. "He's a bad influence on us Hales."

"Us Hales? Is Uncle Psycho here too?" Cora looked around the room in confusion.

Derek laughed softly at that. Malia, who had been standing in the entrance to the kitchen, walked up to Derek and punched him in the arm.

"I can't believe you never told her about me." Malia punched him again, harder. "I looked so stupid, hugging her and freaking out about finally meeting her." She turned to face Cora again, who was frowning deeply.

"Cora," Derek gestured grandly, "I'd like to introduce you to your cousin, Malia. She's Peter's daughter."

"Oh sheeiiit." Corals eyes widened. She punched Derek in the arm right where Malia had. "Why didn't you tell me about this when I saw you in Mexico?"

"It slipped my mind, Cora!" Derek held his arms up in defense, yelping when each woman went to strike him again. "Why is this family so violent?!"

"Jesus, wouldn't I like to know." Stiles huffed from his previously quiet position sitting next to mason and Corey on the kitchen counter. "I have scars that cause people to think I've been into some kinky shit."

"Do I wanna ask which of the Hale lineage finally managed to get in your pants, dweeb?" Cora rolled her eyes fondly at the boy who once saved her life. "Nevermind, this town is way too incestuous for me to be surprised either way. Unless it was Peter, was it Peter? And who's the beefcake, he your new boyfriend, Der?" Cora pointed at Theo, causing him to break out in a huge, devious grin, and half of the room to protest emphatically.

"You are the worst cousin ever." Malia balked at Cora, disgusted. "In a span of a minute, you've accused my ex of sleeping with my dad, said you wouldn't be surprised if he slept with your brother, and then implied Theo was attractive enough to date someone in my family."

"Oh, he so is.  I bet $10 that Derek has already-"  Cora smirked, before Melissa let out a loud whistle.

"Guys!" Melissa shouted, trying to control her exasperation, as half the room looked inordinately pleased, while the other half looked appalled or confused. "Could we try and focus for a bit?  This is an actual emergency."

"I'm Declan, by the way."  The Alpha sitting beside Melissa spoke finally, turning to Scott who sat across from him, head buried in arms in embarrassment.  "You seem like you have a very interesting pack."

Scott mumbled something that sounded like a 'please kill me' into the table.


	2. When You're Alone in the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The McCall pack gets to know Declan as they wait for the rest of the survivors to arrive in Beacon Hills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to know, I based Declan on Harry Styles and the Twins on Sasha and Max from Supernatural.

Scott, Declan, and Liam sat around the kitchen table. Theo had been sent to pick up pizzas, while Melissa and Malia were digging around the upstairs closets for extra pillows and toiletries.

The pack had decided that everyone but the high school seniors, and Theo (who had county patrol rounds that night), were going to have a slumber party of sorts, and wait for the rest of Declan's pack to arrive in the obscenely early morning.

"So." Declan fidgeted awkwardly in his chair. He picked at his nails, where it looked like there was still dirt and ash trapped under them.

"How are you feeling?" Scott reached out and placed a hand on top of the young new Alpha's. "Stupid question, I know, but I can't imagine what you must be feeling."

"I'm surprisingly okay." Declan shrugged, forcing a small smile. Declan heaved a large sigh, and his wide shoulders hunched in as he relaxed a little, pulling away to run both hands through his long, dark chestnut colored hair. He stood up, looking between Scott and Liam with a more sincere smile this time and paced around the kitchen. "They saved people. I'm actually really proud of them. But that's part of why we think it was hunters."

"What do you mean?" Liam furrowed his brow in confusion.

"My parents were well known in the community for their generosity and love of their neighbors. They went into this house next door, a property just on the edge of our land, where we knew an elderly couple lived. Their much smaller property, only an acre behind them, was basically part of ours, and we checked on them constantly, and they'd bring us cookies..."

Declan paused, getting choked up for a moment, before starting to pace again.

"There's no reason they should've been trapped in there. They had enough time." He hissed. "And our emissary, who was a first responder during the fires, said that the old couple died from blunt trauma."

Scott's heart broke for the young wolf who collapsed back into his chair with redrimmed eyes.

"You think someone went inside and knocked all of them out somehow? Killed the couple, then made sure your parents wouldn't make it out alive?" Liam frowned angrily, his eyes starting to redden in sympathy.

"I was the only one who saw them go in, but I had to run and help get my sister's kids to the evacuation center." Declan gasped out. "I just wish I had been there to help! I shouldn't be an alpha. This was never supposed to fall to me."

Cora had told the story of how Declan's brother-in-law and sister were fire fighters and should have been called to assist a county an hour north about a week ago, the day the state first burst into flames. They received a call from the brother-in-law's old pack Alpha instead, saying his parents had died in the fire.

The two went out to investigate, and found that the elderly werewolf couple had been shot in the heart with wolfsbane bullets before the fire had consumed their house. They were still up north when the fire broke out, and had left the twins and their brother in charge of the children.

That fire up north was a cover for a hunter's murder. That was why Cora and Declan were sure the attack on their pack was related, and set by hunters as well.

Liam stood up and walked over to Declan. He placed a firm hand on his shoulder, comforting the werewolf, who promptly broke down crying.

"You're welcome here as long as you need." Scott spoke as he stood, walking over to them and placing a hand on Declan's other shoulder.

*****

"Oh, okay, so you're mad at me for not telling you I was in California for three months, but you neglected to tell me I had a cousin for over a year." Cora rolled her eyes. "Real mature, Derbear."

"I missed you." Stiles sighed, taking a sip of his beer. "I didn't know I missed you, but Jesus, I missed you."

Cora reached past her brother on the porch swing to pat Stiles on the leg affectionately, causing the snugly packed trio to start rocking slowly.

"I will tell Chris you drank all his beer, you miscreant." Derek huffed at the human pack member, pushing Cora's hand back in her own lap. "And your dad."

"If Mason's my ride, the sheriff absolutely doesn't care. Don't be jealous that your sister is cooler than you." Stiles chuckled, reaching across Derek to pat Cora on the leg in return. Derek held his hands out in front of him, seemingly trying to dissuade any further affection between the two.

"Yes, Stiles. I'll give you a ride home." Mason animatedly mimicked a conversation that was never had. "My other role in this cartoon beside token black kid is chauffeur, didn't you know?"

"Oooh, hold it, 'Token.' The twins are coming tomorrow, and you'll lose that title." Cora smirked.

"They're your pack, though. Doesn't count. Though, I do appreciate you livening up the demo pool." Mason chuckled. "Also, thank you for being the only other person here who watches South Park."

"I watch South Park." Corey protested from his perch on the porch railing, swinging his foot out to nudge his boyfriend.

"So, Cora, the rest of your pack is coming tomorrow. How old are the twins? And their older brother, you said?" Stiles ignored Corey in lieu of finding out more about the members of Declan's pack who were coming to stay in Beacon Hills under Scott's protection.

"Gosh, I think Kendra and Kyle are 20 now? Yeah, they just turned 20." Cora smiled, thinking of her pack with a fond look on her face. "Zayn is their half brother. He's 24. I know I said they brought me into the pack, but I should probably mention before they get here that Kendra is my ex-girlfriend."

"What." Derek glared in disbelief. "Bullshit. You don't date. You specifically said so like a year ago!"

"Ehhh, you guys have no idea how ridiculously hot my pack is. It's disgusting. And, Derbear, I also said I was straight, which apparently, was a bit off." Cora shrugged. "I also almost died in a fire when I was 10 and didn't really have an adolescence. Sue me."

"Cora." Derek put his arm around her and furrowed his brow.

"Shut it, I'm just being bitchy, but it's been a fucking week, man." Cora elbowed him, but didn't push him away. She cuddle closer to her older brother instead. "I'm okay. Yeah, the fire was fucking terrifying. I froze. Definitely had a panic attack and was useless for a second. When the ash settled, and we realized we lost Declan's parents, just when we'd pretty much had a warning with his sister's in-laws... I had to be there for him. He's my Alpha now. He needs me and I need to be strong for him."

"What, are you dating Declan now?" Stiles scoffed, eyes wide.

Derek and Cora laughed, as if they knew something he didn't.

"Nah." Cora shrugged with a sme. "I did try to hook up with him, once Kendra and I were good again, but that was when we all discovered that hes super fucking gay. He's into really athletic ripped dudes, by the way which everyone but you humans could tell by the way he smelled like a 15 year old virgin watching porn for the first time as soon as Derek and Theo walked in."

"Nice!" Corey blurted out, causing Mason to shove him off the railing into the bushes.

"You guys will love them." Cora smiled wide. "Ooh, Der, we should take them out to that great Korean BBQ place we went before I left Beacon Hills."

"Oooh, Honey Pig? Can I come?" Corey smiled excitedly, popping up from where he'd righted himself on the front lawn.

"Sure, little dude." Cora snorted at his eager demeanor. "You still really creep me out though. Do the disappearing thing again."

Corey blushed, then disappeared into thin air.

"Soooo creepy." Cora shook her head.

Everyone turned to the driveway as Theo's truck pulled up and the chimera got out holding a few large pizzas.

"Corey, why are you invisible?" Theo laughed as the pizzas suddenly disappeared from his arms. He shook his head and grabbed the rest of the food from the car, following the invisible were-chameleon up the steps to the porch. "Is it cool to go inside?"

"Yeah, I think so?" Cora shrugged. "We just wanted to give Declan some space to talk to Scott what happened, so he could reach out to Argent without us having to come along."

"It sounds quiet now." Derek stood, then helped Stiles and Cora up. "Let's eat. I've lost like 5 pounds in the last hour, I swear."

"Yeah, well you were looking chunky anyway." Cora giggled as she got up and followed Theo, Mason and a now visible Corey into the McCall house, Stiles barking out a laugh right behind her.

"God, I missed you." Stiles grinned before throwing a wink over his shoulder at a disgruntled Derek.

"I didn't." He mumbled and shut the door behind him.  He paused just inside thr door and looked down at his stomach, self-conciously.  "Jerk.  I still have like 6% body fat."

He looked up to see everyone had gathered in the kitchen, except Stiles, who stood a couple feet away, staring with a fond expression.

"C'mon Der, it was sarcastic."  Stiles smirked, a playful smirk making its way onto his face. "Trust me, I know you still have all of your unfairly defined abs.  And a whole pizza couldn't change that."

Derek grinned back and followed the human into the kitchen to join in on the feast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow intro to this stuff! I promise this is actually Thiam. Haha.


	3. And You Wanna Be Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Declan's small pack arrives, but Liam is m.i.a. after some secrets about Theo are revealed.

"Excuse me?" Liam squeaked in outrage as he and Corey changed out of their lacrosse pads in the locker room.

Having Corey as his closest friend on the team was still a bit strange, but with all that had changed around BHHS in the past several months, it felt good to have someone around from the pack at all times.

It also helped keep Liam from fighting with Nolan too much. While the two hot-headed teens had come to a truce, the tension of co-captaining was something they were not prepared for.

"Uh..." Corey stared blankly at Liam, confused at his reaction. He used a towel to wipe the dirt off his face, but only succeeded in smearing it been more. "I was just saying that Derek and Stiles have a thing for eachother?"

"No, not that!" Liam pulled on a dry t-shirt and stared back at his half dressed pack mate, an angry frown on his likewise dirt-smeared face. "You asked if I thought that Theo would stop hooking up with Derek, since its obvious that Stiles and Derek have a thing for eachother."

"Yeah, and? It's a valid question." Corey shrugged, putting his lacrosse hoodie on and shutting his locker, glancing up as someone else entered the locker room.

"What's a valid question, babe?" Mason smiled as he walked up to his best friend and boyfriend. He leaned forward to peck his boyfriend's cheek, then made a face at the dirty, salty residue left on his lips afterward. "We ready to go meet the new people? You guys need to shower, badly."

"Did you know that Theo and Derek were hooking up?" Liam growled at his best friend. Mason froze, wide-eyed. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The beta's eyes flared with color. "You totally did!" Liam accused.

"Corey!" Mason turned and scolded his boyfriend, hitting him none-too-gently on the back of the head. "Did you not understand the part of that conversation where they explicitly said not to tell anybody?"

"Ow!" Corey whined, rubbing the back of his head. "Liam is Theo's best friend, I didn't stop to think he wouldn't know already!"

"You dunce!" Mason threw his hands up in exasperation. "That's probably the exact person Theo didn't want to know."

"Wait." Liam balked at the pair. "You're not seriously confirming that they are. They've been secretly fucking?"

"Well, no, I guess we don't really know " Corey mused with what looked like nostalgia. "We only know about the one time that we walked in on them at Theo's. Also, I'm not sure there's actually fucking involved. Unless you count fucking someone's mouth?"

"Holy shit, you pervert, can you just shush for a second?" Mason's eyes widened as he yelled at his boyfriend, before turning to placate the increasingly angry werewolf in front of them. "Li, listen, it's not what you think..."

"This is ridiculous! Theo tells me everything. I think I would know if Theo was involved with... Or even if he was interested in... Why wouldn't he tell me?" Liam suddenly switched from angry to hurt, shocking the couple who were staring at him warily. "I gotta go."

Liam shoved all his things together in his bag and tore out of the locker room in a huff. Mason and Corey stared at the door in shock for a moment before Mason reached up to smack his boyfriend in the chest, earning a quiet, 'ow.'

"You're such an idiot sometimes." Mason frowned sadly at the were-chameleon. "I love you, but you're an idiot."

He stalked out of the locker room, a protesting boyfriend in tow.

*****

"Heyyy Derek." Mason grinned nervously. "How's my favorite born-wolf?"

Derek raised a suspicious eyebrow and moved to let the human and his currently-visable boyfriend inside the McCall house, where Theo was standing just behind his coworker.

"Where's Liam?" Derek frowned as he shut the front door.

"Yeah, wasn't he was with you guys? He's not responding to my texts." Theo mirrored the older werewolf's frown.

"About that. He's throwing a bit of a hissy fit. I feel like it's best if we give him a bit. Like maybe a day." Mason grimaced. "He might've, somehow, found out about that thing that Corey and I accidentally know that we shouldn't-"

Theo swiftly clapped a hand over Mason's mouth, eyes widening in horror.

"You two are idiots." Derek growled.

"It was my fault!" Corey volunteered, blushing in embarrassment. "Mason hadn't told me that Theo was in lo-"

"Oh my god!" Theo spat out, moving his hand with lightning speed from covering Mason's mouth to Corey's as he glared at the human, who he had mistakenly trusted, with bright glowing eyes. "Shut the fuck up! What is it that you idiots don't understand about secrets?"

Cora and two werewolves Mason and Corey didn't recognize sauntered (that was the only word for how they moved) up to the four.

Theo quickly removed his hand from the were-chameleon's mouth and tried, unsuccessfully, to look casual.

Both teenagers' jaws dropped in awe as they very obviously checked out the two strangers. Cora had warned them about the twins ethereal beauty, but they still couldn't help but stare. Both looked to be Cora's age, possibly older, and also shared a similar height and build. Kendra had caramel colored skin and deep green eyes. Smooth black curls fell around her angelicly sculpted cheekbones. Kyle, who clearly must have been a reincarnation of Adonis, was a tad shorter than his sister, and had much lighter green eyes. His gaze was soft but piercing at the same time. He smiled at the young couple, causing both their heartrates to increase slightly at the sight.

"You two aren't wolves." Kyle smirked wider when their heartrates jumped again as he spoke, voice gentle and raspy. "You must be the 'super-weird-disappearing-kid' and his boyfriend."

"Oh sweet baby jesus, your voice is unbelievable, please stop talking right now." Mason exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"No, no, it's cool." Corey nodded with wide eyes. "You can say whatever you want, ignore him."

Kyle and Kendra laughed in sync at the young couple, while Theo simply face-palmed at the boys he chooses to call friends.

"Teenagers." Cora rolled her eyes, but smiled fondly at the McCall pack members before her brother flicked her in the arm.

"You don't turn 20 til next month, you idiot." Derek frowned at his sister. He turned to the couple once more. "Mason, Corey, meet Kyle and Kendra."

"So nice to meet you handsome boys." Kendra beamed at them.

Another man walked in with the same swagger in his step, maybe 5 to 10 years older than the twins, bearing no resemblance other than the signature way they carried themselves. Declan was close by his side. Scott and Malia trailed into the living room after them.

"And this is our brother, Zayn." Kyle added, voice suspiciously flat. Zayn smiled and nodded politely. His light tanned skin and beautiful black straight hair hinted at possibly some sort of Pacific Islander or Asian ethnicity. His hands and arms were covered in tattoos and he had a shocking streak of white blond in his perfectly sculpted quiff.

"Ignore them." Kendra stage-whispered at the rest of the group. "They fought the whole way here."

"On that note!" Declan chimed in. "I would love to introduce them to Liam! Where is my favorite member of the McCall pack?"

"Since when are you and Liam besties?" Theo scoffed at the alpha, earning a raised brow from every member of the McCall pack in the room, except Derek, who merely swatted Theo in the chest sharply. Theo's eyes widened as he realized how his comment came across. "I mean... wow that sounded completely stupid, and I can't believe I said that out loud just now. I'm going to sit down."

Theo's face reddened slightly as he took a seat on the couch and face palmed for the second time in a matter of minutes.

"Alright, team." Scott clapped his hands together and started speaking very loudly and quickly. "Game plan. I made a reservation for dinner at seven. Cora, Malia, go pick up Stiles. Theo, Declan, go find Liam. He's not picking up his phone. I'll hang back with everyone here. We'll meet you all there at 6:50. Ready? Break."

The rest of the room stared at the true alpha as if he'd said something absurdly funny.

"Right." Malia laughed. "Whatever you say babe." She cocked her head at Cora who laughed and led the way out the front door.

"Right." Theo reluctantly stood up and motioned to Declan with his keys, grimacing as the foreign alpha smirked and followed excitedly.

Both cars started up and left the premises before anyone else spoke. Derek stared at Scott, thoroughly intrigued by Scott's strange behavior.

"What're you doing?" Derek squinted at his friend. Scott simply smiled tightly and walked back to the kitchen.

"You guys have an interesting pack, to say the least." Kyle smirked, looking around the room curiously.

"Eh, at least they're all crazy hot." Kendra smirked.

"You should talk!" Mason and Corey chorused in disbelief, before blushing profusely.

"Teenagers." Derek rolled his eyes and looked to Zayn who just shook his head and shrugged.

*****

"So..." Declan prompted after two full minutes of silence.

The two supernatural young men hadn't been alone together since meeting a little over 24 hours prior, but they'd gotten on very well while they were at Scott's the past couple hours, bonding over a love of surfing and skateboarding, which Theo had recently gotten to rediscover his affinity for. At least until Theo's territorial outburst.

The car ride had started to feel awkward, but Theo refused to turn on the radio. He tried to reason with himself that he just wasn't in the mood, but he knew deep down it was some messed up reaction to Declan's infatuation with Liam. A futile attempt to show authority over the situation, and specifically the alpha in his passenger seat.

Theo turned to said alpha at the drawn out conjunction.

"Yes?" Theo replied, facing the road again as the light turned green.

"You, uh... So, you really aren't dating Derek, huh?" The alpha asked rhetorically.

Theo's eyes widened and he came to a stop at the next red light. He glanced at Declan with dramatically wide eyes and gaped wordlessly.

"So, did that comment earlier mean that you're dating Liam?" Declan continued on the line of questioning, causing Theo to fully turn his head and look at him in confusion.

The Alpha had this innocent puppy dog look on his face that made Theo's heart clench a little when he realized all the young werewolf had been through in the past week. Enough shit to leave him forced into leadership of his own pack. Enough to drive him to Beacon Hills, desperately in search of help. But still, the guy had a gaze that shined with youth, trust and hope, despite all the despair around him. His gentle, tired emerald eyes looked like they were boring into Theo's soul, forgiving him for sins the alpha had know way of knowing Theo had commited.

"Theo, its green."

"Yeah." Theo agreed without moving his gaze from the other boy's beautiful eyes.

"Theo." The Alpha broke the staring contest to look forward at the street light. "The light is green."

Theo shook his head of the strange, sudden, sympathetic and curious thoughts rushing through his head. He drove forward finally, signaling to turn into Liam's neighborhood.

"Was that a 'yeah' as in you are dating Liam?" Declan pried again, reminding Theo of how he got sucked into the intense train of thought about the werewolf next to him.

"Why would you think that I'm dating either one of them?" Thiam smirked. "Am I omitting a really strong 'I'm in a committed relationship with a member of my pack' vibe?"

"Yes." Declan answered simply, still staring at the chimera.

"Oh." Theo's smirk faded as he eyed the alpha warily. "Well, I'm not."

"Cool." Declan said quietly and smiled to himself.

"Hey!" Theo growled lightly, remembering how Declan had seemed overly eager to hang out with the youngest pack member. "That doesn't mean you can go throwing yourself at Liam. And anyway, he's not even into dudes."

"Oh." Declan's smile had completely left his face, replaced with what Theo was sure looked like pity. "You're not dating Liam. You're just in love with him."

"What?!" Theo shouted in surprise. He turned on to Liam's street and parked the car, intentionally a few houses before the Geyer's, and turned to face the alpha. "No I'm not. Why would you say that?"

Declan's phone chimed with a text message before he could reply. He opened it and sighed.

"That was Cora. She said Liam was at Stiles' place, so they have him and they'll meet us there." Declan gave Theo a weak smile. "Don't worry, man. I'm definitely not into Liam like that, but he's a pretty amazing kid. I completely get it."

"I'm not..." Theo trailed off, despite knowing that he could very easily lie without the Alpha hearing a tick in his heartbeat.

"Theo, you don't have to explain yourself to me." Declan quirked his mouth into a wry grin. "I uh... I've kind of had feelings for Zayn for like... ever. But he's made it more than clear that I'm just an annoying little brother in his eyes. So, whatever it is going on with Liam, I get it."

Theo just stared at the alpha for a minute, then nodded and started the truck up again.


	4. Up in the Hills

Theo stared across the table at Liam's fingers, rapping methodically against the porcelain of his teacup.  He looked up at the young wolf, but Liam was determinedly looking anywhere but his direction.

The pack and their guests sat around a large wooden table at the local Brew & Brew. Most members of the pack had cup of tea in front of them, while Derek, Cora and Zayn were sharing a pitcher of beer.

After the supernatural became... natural, in Beacon Hills, Scott, Malia, and their pack, had become local heroes to the community. With that, came friends like the elderly witches who ran the local brewery and tea shop. Derek had since become a part owner, as an investment opportunity, which meant he was welcome to their facility and product. Since no one in the pack, except Stiles, who hated beer, and Mason, who was quite a bit underage, was at any risk of getting drunk and rowdy, the coffee shop/brewery had become their regular hangout.

"So, that was when we found out that Schwarzenegger was actually a fucking werewolf." Declan gasped out, and the entire group, especially the twins, who had helped tell the tale, collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Theo tore his eyes away of the consistent rythym that Liam was tapping against his beverage. Declan was staring right at him as he led the group in a much needed laugh. His wide, beautiful eyes caused Theo to break into a smile as well, and let out a light laugh, holding the Alpha's gaze.

"Geez, I knew it!" Stiles coughed, putting down his tea. "That dude is so emotionally stunted, he had to be a werewolf."

"Stiles." Derek growled from beside the human.

"Eh, he's got a point." Cora shrugged, elbowing her brother gently.

"No, no. Seriously, you can't be telling us you actually met the gubernator and he was a werewolf." Mason gaped at the twins and Declan, leaning forward.

Theo turned his attention toward Declan again, and the young Alpha nodded emphatically. He carried on with the story, explaining more about what happened that day, several years before. Theo's attention was averted momentarily and he noticed Liam get up from the table and walk out the back door, squeezing Scott's shoulder as he went.

Theo couldn't help but notice the tension in Liam's shoulders and the frown that hadn't left the beta's face since they'd arrived at dinner earlier.

"Riveting, Declan, really." Zayn arched an eyebrow as his alpha finished and sighed. "Though, name dropping seems a bit unnecessary. Everyone here already loves you."

"It was just an anecdote, Zee." Declan rolled his eyes.

Theo recalled the conversation that he had with Declan earlier in the evening, about the complicated feelings between the two werewolves. He bit back a snarl and put on a wide, comfortable grin instead.

"Well, I was starting to like him, quite a bit, but that anecdote did the opposite of appeal to me." Theo smirked at Declan flirtatiously. "I hate to hear that I'm not the most sculpted werewolf you guys have ever met."

Declan's face flickered through an array of emotions. Confusion, understanding, amusement. He barked out an enthusiastic laugh at that, leaning over to bump shoulders with the chimera sitting next to him.

"Well." Liam reappeared in the group suddenly, a tightlipped smile on his face. He stared directly at Theo for a moment, the first eye contact they'd made all day, before looking around the room, specifically at Corey. "This has been fun, but we've got 8 am practice tomorrow."

"Yeah, Liam's right." Scott sighed and stood up from the table, stretching and yawning. "Malia and I are going to see Argent early tomorrow, and everyone else should probably leave now to get settled in at Derek's."

"I'll get them set up at the lofts, then." Theo stood, smiling at Derek and Stiles. "You guys can clean and lock up here. I've got a set keys for the spare apartments."

"Of course you do." Liam mumbled under his breath, causing his Alpha and a few others in the group to look at him strangely.

"Thanks, man." Stiles nodded at Theo, and started to gather up glasses from the table.

"C'mon, handsome." Cora grinned, looping her arm through Theo's and nodding to her Alpha and the rest of their pack. "Lead the way to Casa Hale."

*****

Theo handed Kendra keys to the two apartments that he and Derek had set up.

"Sorry you guys have to share these two rooms, but there aren't beds on any of the other floors. Derek's not really looking to rent them out. He's uh... kind of a hermit." Theo shrugged and Cora stifled a laugh. "However you guys want to split up, or if you all wanna to stay together, y'know, for comfort or whatever... the second room is just across the hall, and my room is all the way down the hall. Derek is on the top floor."

"No problem, man." Kyle called out from where he was stretched out on the king sized bed on the far side of the modest-sized studio. "This is generous of Hale-numero-dos, either way."

"Yeah." Zayn nodded seriously. "Thanks."

Theo eyed the lithe, attractive man warily before nodding in return.

"I'm gonna turn on a movie." Cora dove onto the large bed beside Kyle, raising an eyebrow at her other packmates. "Who's in?"

Zayn nicked the remote from the youngest Hales' hands and took a seat on the recliner nearest the door, and Kendra crawled onto the bed between her brother and Cora.

"Actually..." Declan turned to Theo with a grin. "I was hoping you could point me in the direction of the nearest all-night market? I've got some things I'd like to buy before I settle in."

"Yeah." Theo smiled back warmly. "Let me just drive you. It's actually quite a bit away, but I don't mind the drive."

"Perfect, you're so sweet." Declan placed a hand on the chimera's arm, squeezing affectionately.

Kendra and Kyle snickered quietly from the bed, and when Theo turned to look at them, Cora was giving him a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. He saw Declan roll his eyes in response to his inherited betas and turn to lead the way out the door.

"Try not to wake us up if you come back too late." Zayn's cold voice stopped Declan in his tracks for a moment, but the young Alpha continued on, resolutely not turning to face the older wolf. Theo had to bite back a retort or reaction of any kind, out of respect for his guests, but he could hear the twins and Cora hissing harsh words at their elder as Theo led Declan back to the truck.

*****

"So, Cora's pack seems nice." Stiles mused as Derek locked the door to the brewery, leaving them standing side by side in the cold night air.

"Yeah, they do." Derek smiled at the human, who shivered and shoved his hands into his sweater. Derek stepped forward and put an arm around Stiles, pulling him close and starting to lead him to the camaro parked out front. "I'm happy for her. She seems at home with them."

"I feel so bad for them all." Stiles frowned. "I know that we've all, I mean you especially, have been through some shit, but they're all so young. God, Der, it's just not fair that your sister has to go through this again."

"I know, Stiles." Derek said, a sad smile crossing his face. "But the first time I ever really felt at home again after what happened to us as kids, was here, with you and your pack, so-"

"Our pack." Stiles corrected without missing a beat.

"Our pack." Derek amended, and smiled a bit more than before. "So, it's good that they've got us, now. Because I've never known a group of people who've tried harder to protect their own."

"Yeah." Stiles sighed. "I am pretty great."

Derek pushed the younger man away playfully. They both laughed.

"But what the fuck was up with Liam tonight though?" Stiles laughed awkwardly as they reached the car.  "You noticed that, right?"

"Oh." Derek paused with a hand on the door to his car. "Shit, yeah, about that... I kind of need to tell you something.

"More confessions, Derek?" Stiles chuckled, getting into the car. Derek followed, but just continued to stare at the steering wheel nervously. "What's wrong? Didn't we finally do the whole... mutual hidden feelings for eachother thing this week already?"

"Yeah, we did." Derek swallowed and turned to Stiles, a guilty look on his face. "But I kind of forgot to mention something very very very minor that happened a few weeks before we had that discussion. And you're not going to like it."

*****

Theo stared down at the People magazine his hands, shaking his head in confusion.

"What?" Declan's voice startled the chimera from his reading. The alpha smiled coyly. "Didn't agree with who wore it best?"

Theo scoffed and put the magazine back, noting the bags in Declan's hands.

"Got everything?" Theo asked and upon receiving an affirmative nod, turned and walked out the exit of the CVS.

"Thanks for driving me." Declan said softly as soon as they were in the truck. "I kind of don't have much to my name right now."

"I get it." Theo nodded, looking at his passenger with a furrowed brow. "Trust me, I've been there. You're not alone, and you can always ask. Anything you need, I'm glad to help."

"Thanks." Declan smiled gratefully. He looked down as Theo started the drive back home. "Hey, y'know when I asked if you were dating Liam?"

"Yeah.  Look, it's not like that with us, really. Like I said, he's straight, and it's not even... It's..." Theo sighed. "It's complicated."

"I get that, really, I do. And trust me, my life is complicated, and I don't just mean Zayn.  I'm in no position to be like... looking for a serious relationship." The werewolf nodded emphatically, turning in his seat to face Theo better. "I just wanted you to know that I was asking, not because I was trying to pry about your pack's sex lives, necessarily... but because, I mean, I was trying to figure out if there was an opening in yours."

Theo stared, wide-eyed, ahead at the road, completely silent. After a minute without any reaction, Declan turned and looked out the passenger window with resignation.

"I uh..." Theo whispered, not taking his eyes off the road. Declan looked at his face, curious, and waited for the chimera to continue. "I suppose there is."

Theo looked at his passenger finally, an uncharacteristically shy expression on his face.

"Oh." Declan smiled and blushed in return as Theo turned his attention back to the road. "Cool."


	5. Deep in the Canyons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes on a vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. This is a very short chapter with little point, because it would have been painfully long to add the next part in.

"What do you want me to say, Derek?"

"I don't know, Stiles, Jesus. I didn't really expect this kind of reaction!"

"Well, I'm just a little bit shocked, that's all. It's not really like you."

"Okay, fair, but did you have to laugh so hard?" Derek pouted self-consciously.

Derek had been delicate with delivering the confession, expecting Stiles to be hurt or angry, but after a full minute of silence, Stiles had spent the majority of the ride home laughing to the point of tears.

"It's not that ridiculous. We work together, we pretty much live together, and I mean, you've seen Theo right? It's not like there were feelings involved or anything, it was just..."  Derek trailed off.

"Jesus, Derek, I get it. I wasn't laughing at you! I was laughing at the fact that Corey told you not to stop on his account. That kid is shameless." Stiles chuckled again, parking in his driveway. He sighed and moved to get out of the Jeep. "So, are you coming in, or are you gonna pout there all night?"

Derek looked up hopefully, and followed Stiles' lead, getting out of the Jeep and walking around to meet him on the driver's side.

"You still want me here?" Derek asked, unsure.

"Yeah, Der, I mean... We had plans." Stiles rolled his eyes as he laced their fingers together and started pulling Derek along to the front door. He could see the light on in the kitchen, the only indication that the Sherriff was still home. "I'm glad you told me, so that I didn't hear it elsewhere. Yeah, I'm a bit jealous, but like... you didn't do anything wrong. A few weeks ago we had no idea that we would even be together. Not that I'm saying we're together.  Like y'know... that.  Or, at least... I mean we are, we are definitely a thing, but not like... and I mean-"

"Stiles." Derek smiled, stopping the rambling human before he could open the front door. "I get what you're saying. And you should say it. We're a thing.  We're together.  I swear, there is no one else I want at all. I'm just glad you're not upset with me. I know you and Theo don't exactly have the best history, but he's kind of like... my best friend, as weird as that is. I just didn't want anything to mess this up before we even started. You have no idea how long I've waited for us to be a thing."

"Uh, yeah, no. I do. And I'm glad you waited, more or less, for me to figure it out." Stiles blushed at the memory of Derek's _not-sexy-at-all_  (unless Stiles is being honest with himself, because it totally was, Jesus Christ) description of his short-lived hook up with Theo.  Stiles shook himself from any sort of pervy thoughts creeping around the edge of his mind and looked down at their hands, gripping Derek's a bit tighter. He cleared his throat and smiled up at Derek. "And uh, Theo and I are totally cool. Trust me. I'm not upset with either of you."

Stiles leaned in and kissed Derek on the cheek, making the werewolf smile content and relieved.

"But to make it up to me, you're now telling my dad that you want to date his 19 year old son, who is almost 8 years younger than you. Let's go ahead and round down to 7 years while we try and sell him on this. I'm gonna be 20 in like a month. Or three. Four, I guess it's four. Kay?" Stiles spoke quickly, diving to turn the key in the door before Derek could process his words. He started pulling Derek inside forcefully. "Ready? Let's go."

*****

"What up, Party people?" Mason grinned as Derek let the three seniors into the loft, leaving the door open, as he got ready to load the truck and jeep. "Ready for a weekend of wind and waves?"

"I thought we were going to the mountains?" Stiles frowned, sipping on a cup of coffee in a sweater and basketball shorts, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but out of bed.

"Oh, we're still going up to Peter's cabin. I'm not losing out on a chance to enjoy the fruit of his, oh wait, **my** riches, without him in the same state." Cora muttered into her own coffee.

Derek sat on the ground by the door and started putting on his converse. He stood and grabbed a hoodie from the coatrack as Stiles, Cora, and other members of her pack started talking all at once.

"We're still going to Tahoe!" Derek roared, getting everyone's attention. Once everyone was silent, he smiled sheepishly. "But it's California and it's a freak heat wave. Its 70 degrees up there today. The lake will be open."

"Geez. You must have been a delight as an alpha." Declan smirked, walking in with a box of pastries.

"Oh man." Stiles covered his mouth as he giggled. "That brings back some hilarious memories."

"I'm so glad that everything I do entertains you." Derek rolled his eyes and frowned, grabbing a couple sleeping bags and a large duffle bag. He huffed and walked out the door. Theo, who had followed the alpha into the loft, patted his friend on the back on the way out with a smirk.

Theo turned his attention to the rest of the room and immediately met Stiles gaze, where the human was staring at him with pursed lips and a very arched eyebrow. Theo arched an eyebrow back, in confusion.

Then, Stiles stuck his tongue out to wet his lips then poked the side of his own cheek so that it bulges out slightly, and both of Theo's eyes opened wide in alarm.

Stiles smirked, realizing the chimera had caught on to what Stiles now knew. The two stared at each other silently.  Theo's eyes went from wide to narrow and, finally, he returned the smirk, which quickly turned into a genuine smile. He wagged both eyebrows suggestively, which caused Stiles to frown aggressively and flush bright red.

"Fuck you." Stiles spat without any real malice, breaking their silent stare-off.

"Empty threat, but you would be so lucky." Theo smiled. "Grats, by the way."

Stiles blushed and held up a middle finger at the chimera, effectively ending the discussion as soon as it started.

"What in the holy hell was that?" Liam said quietly to Cora, who stood at his side with an equally confused expression.

Stiles and Theo looked around the room, suddenly remembering there were 7 other people in the room, most staring at them in confusion.

"My nose just got whiplash from the scents you two gave off during that nonverbal echange." Kendra spoke slowly, looking more tired than any of them as she rubbed her face.

"Dude. Right?" Kyle yawned around his words.  "Are you guys telepathic?  You got witches in this pack?  Our mom was a witch."

"No witches, they're just assholes and they have a love-hate relationship.  Don't ask." Derek sighed, walking in the room once more, Zayn in tow this time.

"Yo, Zaynie." Declan smiled at his oldest packmate. "We brought breakfast."

The older wolf crinkled up his nose and shook his head, sitting down on the couch next to his siblings.

"Help yourself guys." Declan forced a smile, bouncing back after Zayn's rejection. "Stiles was right, this place has amazing bacon cheddar scones."

"Did you get me a maple bacon cronut?" Stiles jumped up to dig into the box of pastries, letting out a triumphant 'yesssss' before stuffing over half of the delicious croissant-donut hybrid into his mouth.

"You are disgusting." Theo sneered at his friend.

Stiles responded by blowing him a kiss, provoking laughter throughout the room. Theo mined gagging and throwing up, and walked away to help Derek load the cars.

Liam, who had already eaten breakfast at home, got up with the intention of helping as well. When he looked over to the pair, they were huddled close together, whispering low enough that not even the room full of werewolves could hear them. Theo was grinning wide, and shoved Derek's shoulder with a light laugh. The handsome, bearded man looked like he was trying hard to suppress a grin, redness creeping up his neck to his cheekbones. Liam looked away, heart clenching uncomfortably, as the two turned their attention back toward the group.

"Let's just bring the breakfast goods on the road, guys." Derek shouted over the wolves scattered around the apartment, cutting through arguing and laughing.

Liam, his stuff already packed into ones of the cars, grabbed the breakfast boxes and started for the door.

"Hey, Li?" Theo grabbed Liam's arm lightly as the younger pack member tried to walk out without so much as a glance in his direction.

Liam looked up and smiled tightly, nodding his hello and continuing his way through the door, taking the fire exit at the end of the hall instead of even waiting for the elevator.

"Sorry man, he'll get over it." Derek slapped him on the shoulder, guiding Zayn and then the others out. "Lock up for me? We'll see you downstairs."

Theo groaned and turned to find Declan still standing there, smiling at him.

"Hey." Declan walked toward him. "Its the last time I'll say it, because you made it clear you didn't agree last night, but I think there's definitely something going on with that kid. I really think he feels the same way."

"Declan-" Theo ran a hand through his hair and sighed as the alpha came even closer, hooking a finger in Theo's belt loop.

"Fine." Declan smiled, warm and kind, like he always did. He pulled Theo in til the were chest to chest and best down to kiss him on the jaw, whispering in his ear playfully. "But I'd rather not be mauled by an angry jealous werewolf, so might not wanna mention what happened last night."

"He's just worried." Theo growled stubbornly, but nuzzled back briefly, unable to resist preening at the attention from the incredibly handsome young werewolf. He pulled away with a glare. "And it's not really a turn on when you mention the fact that I'm in love with my best friend."

"Not trying to turn you on, love. Not right before we get in a car for three hours." Declan laughed, swatting Theo on the rear playfully, leading the way out. He paused in the hall as Theo locked the door and went to lock the one across the hall as well. "But just so you know, I have more invested in seeing you happy than I do in getting in your pants."

Theo smiled and rolled his eyes as Declan muttered an 'again' under his breath as they entered the lift, mentally preparing for the hours of travel ahead of them.


	6. California, Dry as the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pack drives up the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, honestly, this is just an interlude. I wasn't satisfied by the jump between the last chapter and the others I was writing, so... here's a fun little drive up to Lake Tahoe!

Fighting over carpool arrangements took quite a few minutes, and only ceased when Cora nudged Theo's arm and motioned for him to get in his truck.

Kendra, always the observant member of her pack, spied them inching toward the vehicle. She elbowed her Alpha and they followed followed. As soon as they were all standing at a door, Cora nodded to get in.

"Last car up the mountain has to jump in to the lake naked before coming in the cabin!" Cora yelled, the last to jump an Theo's car, and the four sped off, watching in the rearview mirror as the others tripped eachother and fought, scrambling to find a seat in a car.

"Fucking losers." Cora yelled out the window, knowing they could hear despite being almost out of sight. She rolled up the window and smiled at Theo from the passenger seat. "Nice driving."

"Thanks." Theo chuckled as she took her phone out, no doubt texting someone from the other cars. Theo looked behind him at Cora's packmates. "She always like that?"

"Worse." Declan grinned. "That's why we love her."

"She made Kyle walk around the mall doing his Christmas shopping in a Left Shark costume last year." Kendra nodded seriously. "All just because he lost in a game of HORSE.

"Oh man." Theo laughed. "That's not even that funny, but like... it kind of is?"

"Whatever, Theo." Cora deadpanned, backhanding his chest with little force, not even glancing up from her phone. "Just don't get on my bad side."

"You kind of seem like you still like to torture people who are on your good side." Theo raised an eyebrow at her.

The other inhabitants of the car snickered. Cora just smiled and turned the radio up.

*****

"Your sister is a menace." Stiles said as he slowed on the highway. The traffic they'd hit was entirely Cora's fault, and Stiles was sticking by that.

Neither Derek or Zayn (who was reading a book in the backseat) said anything, which cause Stiles to pout even harder.

"She says thank you." Derek said, finally, before continuing to text. "She's also saying you're definitely going to lose because your car will break down."

Stiles slammed his hand against the steering wheel with enough force to make him retract after, muttering an 'ouchie' before glaring at Derek.

"Its not that bad." Zayn sighed from the back seat. Stiles looked in his review mirror to glare at the werewolf with godlike cheekbones.

"Easy for you to say, you're part animal." Stiles whined. "I'm human, and very fragile. I get cold easily."

"Your boyfriend is annoying." Zayn said under his breath, low enough that Stiles couldn't hear, staring straight at the back of Derek's head.

Derek sighed heavily and threw an apologetic smile over his shoulder. Zayn quirked up the corner of his mouth and brought his attention back down to his book.

"What?" Stiles squawked, outraged. "What did you say? Derek, tell me what he said. Derek. I swear on my..."

Stiles jeep started sputtering then, as smoke began to drift up out from under the hood. The jeep stalled in traffic suddenly and the three inhabitants of the car froze.

"Fuck. Cora." Stiles whispered.

*****

Mason's car full of men was blissfully unaware of the going-ons a few miles behind them, as they'd passed Stiles' jeep a couple minutes after getting on the road.

Mason and Corey were belting out the words along to the Khalid album, which Liam firmly objected to, but as Kyle refused to vote, he was outweighed on music selection 2 to 1.

"You two sound like the chipmunks when you sing." Liam thought out loud as the couple sang and laughed during 'Let's Go'. "Or like you have a voice-changing filter on."

"I actually like this song." Kyle mused. "I like the whole album, I just can't sing along to it very easily."

"I bet not." Corey turned in his seat to look back at the two young men. "I could totally imagine you singing some Jacob Banks, though."

"Oh yeah." Mason nodded happily. "Dude.  Put it on. I will get on that. I mean, he is my boy. I would die for that man."

"Nobody wants to hear that, Mase." Liam grimaced. He looked up at Kyle, shaking his head vigorously. "He butchers it so badly."

Mason raised a middle finger at his best friend, never taking his eyes off the road as they started up the mountain. Liam shook his head and directed his attention back to the seat between himself and the otherwerewolf in the car. They had a messy, but competitive game of go fish spread between them, and Liam bit his lip, pondering his next move.

"Never heard of him, I'll have to check it out." Kyle nodded.

"What do you listen to, then?" Liam asked. "Also, you got a two?"

"Go fish." Kyle smiled shyly. "Alright.  Promise not to laugh?"

"We would never laugh." Corey looked back with a smile that looked like pure sunshine. The smile dropped suddenly, and he looked distressed. "Unless you say U2.  Fuck Bono."

Mason threw his head back in laughter, unable to contain his amusement at his boyfriend's unending distaste for Bono and the Edge. Kyle looked confused but just continued to smile at them nervously.

"Alright." Kyle took a deep breath and looked down at his cards. "One Direction. All of it. And like, definitely Harry Styles' new album."

The car was silent, as the Khalid Album switch to the next track. Liam didn't seem to be breathing. Mason and Corey were looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"So..." Kyle drew the word out awkwardly. "Got any fives?"

*****

"Derek, you little liar! You totally got your dick wet." Cora squealed at her phone as if it could hear her, frantically texting someone, no doubt the brother she spoke of. "I have no Idea why I am the last to know about this!"

Cora reached across to pinch Theo in the arm with full strength, causing the chimera to actually roar in pain as he tried to focus on driving up the mountain.

"First, Declan, you are horrible at secrets." Theo huffed. He rubbed his arm, which was probably severely bruised for the time being. "Second, I do not think that expression refers to blow jobs, though now that I think about it, it's very appropriate. Point being, your brother absolutely did not fuck me."

"I did though." Declan laughed from the back seat.

"Jesus, Declan!" Theo cried, taking his hand off the wheel to facepalm.

"You slut!" Cora gasped, hitting Theo exactly where she'd previously bruised his arm.

"C'mon." Declan rolled his eyes. "Zayn could already tell anyway, and he's bound to open his stupid gorgeous mouth about it sooner or later."

"You can't fuck your feelings for Zayn away." Cora scolded seriously, turning around in her seat.

"Oh, stuff you." Declan laughed, arching an eyebrow at his friend, red briefly flickering across his irises. "Like you haven't tried to do the same. Plus, I'm not the one trying to fuck my feelings away."

"Wha-" Cora turned to Theo again, who was tensed up and gripping the steering wheel hard enough to leave marks. "Theo? Ohmygosh, did my brother like... break your heart? Wow... He's never actually broken anyone's heart before! That little..."

"He's not in love with Derek, he's in love with Liam!" Declan shouted exasperatedly, making Cora stop midsentence and furrow her brow.

"But I thought he was straight." A look of realization dawned on Cora's face and she reached out to pat Theo's thigh in an awkward attempt at comfort. "Oh you poor thing."

"Guys, I'm very comfortable." Kendra sighed from her spot, curled up in the backseat next to her Alpha. "I would rather jump into the freezing cold lake, than be in the car for this conversation."

Theo mentally thanked the traffic at the top of the mountain as they came to a stop long enough for him to bang his head against the steering wheel a couple times.

"I'm so glad that I don't really care for dick." Kendra muttered to herself, sitting up. "The guys here are smoking, but they're all fucking crazy."

*****

" _BABY YOU LIGHT UP MY WORLD LIKE NOBODY ELSE! THE WAY THAT YOU WHIP YOUR HAIR GETS ME OVERWHELMED_!"

The four boys ~~yelled~~  sang at the top of their lungs as they sat in traffic on the top of the mountain, windows down as the early afternoon air, despite being crisp, was in the high sixties.

" _The way you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell you don't know_ -" Kyle sang in his sultry lower register.

"- _uh-oh! YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE BEAUTIFULLLL_!" Corey, Liam and Mason chorused enthusiastically after, continuing on to a second round.

The boys laughed and crooned their way toward the end of the song, traffic completely stopped.

Liam froze suddenly, sniffing the air then hitting Kyle, who stopped too.

Corey and Mason began to trail off, looking behind them at the wolves in the backseat. Liam and Kyle sniffed again, before both of the heads snapped to the right in unison, locking eyes with the occupants of the car next to them as the final chorus of the song ended.

For a good five seconds, all four boys stared across at Kendra and Declan, who looked like they were struggling to keep their eyes in their head, Theo, whose jaw was all but unhinged, and Cora, who was practically draped across Theo's lap to try and stick her hand out the window. Cora's face was split wide open in an ecstatic grin as she braced herself across the driver seat, waving her phone.

"I got part of that shit on camera!" Cora howled. "Its not even my birthday!"


	7. We Wanna Watch the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles' jeep loses the race, and Scott and Malia reach out with an update.

"You need to just get it over with." Theo huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one about to lose all feeling in your body." Stiles grumbled, unzipping his hoodie and shoving it at the chimera.

"I'd be more than happy to help warm you up afterward. I could do with a hot shower anyway.  Company is never a bad thing." Theo joked with an exaggerated leer as Stiles pants and shirt followed the way of his sweater.

A loud chorus of whistles and jeers came after Theo's comment, as well as an angry growl from the end of the dock where Derek and Zayn waded in the cold water.

Ignoring Derek's aggressive response to him teasing Stiles, Theo grinned over at the delighted group of friends standing at the back of the cabin, all gathered to watch Stiles... stand nervously in his boxers. His smile faltered a little as he took note of the shortest member of the pack, who stood to the side, unamused at Theo's antics.

"This is fucking insane. Fuck Cora." Stiles whined, and Theo redirected his stare to the very pale looking human.

"Just do it. It's not even that cold out right now. It's like... 70 degrees out." Theo shoved Stiles a bit forward, knowing the water was far, far colder than that. The human cried out in distress at the thought of the pain he was about to submit himself to, then bounced on the balls of his feet a couple times to psych himself up. He kicked off his boxers and with a strangled war-cry, he took off running down the dock.

An uproar of cheers and laughter sounded from behind Theo as they all watched the human leap off the end of the dock and land in the water with a loud splash just a few feet from the two older werewolves.

"Thank-fucking-christ." Zayn gasped out as Stiles broke to the surface, prompting the trio to swim back toward the property. Zayn hauled himself from ice cold bath he'd been subjected to. "Where the fuck are the towels?"

Cora skipped toward them with gleeful leaps, towels in hand. Zayn yanked one out of her grasp to cover his nakedness and sprinted toward the cabin.

"I love you guys." She cooed, watching Derek help Stiles out of the freezing water. She took the final two towels and wrapped them around Stiles' shivering shoulders. Theo caged the human in on the other side and the pair walked him back in the direction of the cabin. The others had ushered Zayn inside and followed excitedly, laughing about the pictures and snapchats they had taken.

"I hate you." Stiles' teeth chattered around his words. "Both of you."

"C'mon, little guy." Cora pouted sympathetically, rubbing his back through the towel as they walked up the steps to the porch. "There's a fire going inside."

"I'm fine." Derek raised his hand from behind the trio where he was following along, just in Stiles' boxer briefs, which he'd picked up when no one gave him a towel, still dripping with icy water. "Thanks for asking guys."

Theo turned with a smirk, response ready on the tip of his tongue, but stopped as he noticed the lone figure that remained outside. He frowned and ushered the other three inside, getting a sympathetic pat on the back from Derek before the door swung closed.

Theo carefully approached werewolf-occupied the patio bench and sat down slowly, as if giving the other boy a chance to tell him to 'get lost.'

"I'm sorry." Liam whispered.

Theo's neck twisted unnaturally fast to look the werewolf, jaw dropped, brow furrowed in confusion. Liam looked up at him, his face reading more bitter than remorseful.

"Oh yeah?" Theo shifted so that he was turned a bit more toward his friend and packmate. "What for?"

"Ignoring you." Liam bit out, staring determinedly into the chimera's eyes. "It was stupid. I must have just felt insulted that everyone knew all this important stuff about you that I didn't. I know that it's been hard to spend as much time together with your job and my school shit, but I guess I just thought you still told me everything."

Theo swallowed as he flashed back on nights spent curled up in Liam's bed, facing eachother, during the month he had stayed at the Geyer residence. They had fought constantly, but when they were exhausted, they always found comfort in eachothers grounding presence.

They had bonded over their fears and memories. Theo had shared the nightmares he consistently suffered from, and Liam shared his fears of becoming like his father. They spoke about their futures and the fear of wanting more when their lives could end any minute. When Liam had asked if Theo had ever dreamt of a normal life, like having a wife and kids, Theo had confessed that he wasn't sure he was attracted to women, really, and that kids scare the shit out him, because he shouldn't be trusted to take care of others.

Once, when Theo had asked what Liam wanted to be when he finally finished with school, Liam had responed by whispering 'alive' and giving his bedmate a sad smile.

"I do. I always come to you." Theo spoke after a long pause, his voice cracking around a lump in his throat he hadn't even known was there.

Liam's gaze went from bitter to hurt in the blink of an eye and Theo wanted to reach out and yell something, he's not sure what, but Liam just stood and patted his ex-housemate on the shoulder.

"Yeah. Sure." Liam sighed, reaching for the door. "Well, you know where to find me."

Theo watched as the door closed behind Liam, leaving him alone out in the increasingly crisp afternoon air.

"Good." Theo shrugged to himself. "Great. Awesome talk."

He followed the werewolf into the house, where he could hear a shower already running upstairs, where Derek had led Stiles.

The rest of the pack was spread out around the kitchen and living room, the TV blasting 80's music from a random movie as Liam, Mason and Corey flipped through the tv guide.

"Cora, your uncle has some sick vinyls."  Kyle whistled low as he and his sister flipped through the records on the shelf near the TV.

"His taste in decor is disgusting, though."  Zayn made a face from where he sat by the fire, still wrapped in only a towel.

"This coming from a nearly 30-year-old who spraypaints his bedroom walls."  Kyle snorted, earning a glare from his sister.

"I think your art is beautiful, Zayn."  Declan smiled at Zayn, who forced an annoyed smile in thanks.  Declan simply rolled his eyes and approached Theo, who remained near the stairs, just inside the back door.

Cora laughed at them but threw in a kind, "It really is, Zayn."

"Gross, I'm not using the shower upstairs now."  Theo winced suddenly, drawing everyone's attention.

"What?"  Cora frowned.  "Oh, are they...  Really?  Why'd you have to point it out?  How did you even... I couldn't hear it over the tv, and I can still barely hear it."

"What?"  Mason looked around confused.

"I guess Stiles and Derek are a thing now?"  Liam's gaze flicked over to Theo, fighting to keep the confusion off his face.  "Cause yeah, they're definitely making noise."

"I thought this place was extra sound proofed for Cora's family."  Zayn wrinkled his nose as he focused on  _not_ focusing his hearing on the second floor.

"Theo has super-super hearing that he can't really help."  Corey explained with a shrug. "That's why we were super confused that he didn't here us coming that time we-OW!"

"Boy, there is seriously something wrong with you."  Mason hissed as he jabbed his elbow into his boyfriend's ribs for a second and third time just for good measure.

Liam sighed audibly as he continued to flip through their viewing choices.

"I have heard more about this pack's and mostly Theo's sex life since meeting him than any other person I've ever met."  Kendra groaned and looked up at the ceiling, looking like she'd rather be anywhere but there, with the two packs trapped inside the small cabin.

"Alright, alright guys."  Cora held her hands up to cease the conversation.  She put one arm around Theo's shoulders and the other around her Alpha's.  "Let's stop painting Theo as the town slut."

"Well maybe if he didn't give it up to random alpha werewolves after only one day of knowing them, he'd have a better rep."  Zayn said from his spot on the ground, smirking cruelly at his Alpha.

"Wow."  Liam stood, dropping the remote in Corey's lap.  "I am going on a run.  A long one."

Everyone went silent as Liam walked toward the first floor room that he had thrown his bag into earlier, slamming the door behind him.  A cheesy voiceover sounded from the television as Theo looked around at the room.  He stood quietly next to Cora, who nudged him in support.

He observed Kyle staring in shock at his brother before shifting to look at the three of them, eyes glowing at Theo before directing them at Declan, and then back to his brother instead. Theo could feel the werewolves next to him tense.

Everyone's attention shifted as Kendra growled at her twin and then older brother, causing them to both look at her and then away, calm, but clearly irritated with her, and eachother.

"Okaaay!"  Theo's eyes widened as he filled the awkward lapse in conversation.  "What're we making for lunch/dinner?"

*****

Theo pulled into the parking lot of the Ralph's just as Cora was finishing up a story about Kyle and Zayn accidentally getting themselves trapped in a circle of mountain ash last New Years Eve and almost killing eachother.

"Oh my god, I've never seen two people suddenly hate eachother so much after years and years of being close." Cora rambled on. "It was crazy, they never talked about it again, and no one even knows how they got themselves trapped."

Theo's phone buzzed loudly in his pocket, twice in succession. He parked the car in the back of the fairly crowded lot and pulled out the phone to see two messages from Malia.

"Hey, Cora?" Theo interrupted her, worry flooding his gut. "Can you go ahead and get the groceries by yourself? I gotta make a call."

"Yeah, of course!" Cora nodded, looking at Theo with a slightly concerned smile. "So, we're just grabbing some sodas and burgers right?"

"Yeah." Theo agreed distractedly, texting Malia back a 'Call you in a sec.' He looked up as Cora started to get out of the car. "Oh, don't forgot the mustard."

"I know. Liam threatened me twice before he got in the shower." Cora grinned at him knowingly before hopping out and shutting the door behind her.

Theo watched her walk the 40 yards to the store front and all the way through the door before hitting the call button on Malia's contact.

_"Theo?"_

"What is it, Malia? Where is Scott, what's going on? Why did you text me to make sure I was alone?" Theo rambled.

 _"Theo, I'm here too. So is Argent, you're on speaker. Are you where no one can hear you?"_ Scott's voice echoed through the phone

"Yeah, I'm definitely far enough." Theo looked up to make sure Cora hadn't started walking back to the car for any reason.

 _"Good, because you need to keep this to yourself. And we need you to help us, since you seem to get along with the new pack best, and well, you're the only one who can lie flawlessly to werewolves."_ Scott's voice turned guilty as he finished the initially firm request.

"What the fuck is going on, Scott?" Theo gritted his teeth but knew he would do as the Alpha asked.

 _"Theo, I talked to quite a few hunters._ " Agents voice sounded softer, clearly further from the phone. " _There's a lot of rumors, stories... about the fire and the hunters that set it."_

"So it definitely was hunters?" Theo furrowed his brow. "What-"

 _"They were just bounty hunters."_ Scott cut him off. _"They've been bragging around about how much they were paid, and we're going to track them down for answers. They just did it as easy money, when no other hunters would've taken a job like the one they did."_

"What kind of job is that? What does that mean?" Theo watched the door nervously, making sure Cora didn't appear.

" _Theo_." Malia spoke firmly, sounding clearer than the rest of the call had, and he knew he had been taken off speakerphone. _"Theo, it's one of them. One of Declan's pa_ ck."

"What?" Theo's eyes opened wide in shock as he saw Cora's familiar head through the mass of people walking out of the store, juggling groceries, but probably still too far to hear unless she was focusing very hard.

 _"Theo, one of the pack members you're in Tahoe with paid those bounty hunters to start that fire."_ Malia's voice sounded distant as his blood rushed to his ears. _"Theo you can't tell-"_

He hit 'end' on his call as Cora swiftly made her way toward the car. She saw him staring back at her and a grin broke out on her face as she held up what looked like a large handle of vodka.

Theo sighed in relief, positive that she didn't hear the last part of his call.  He forced a large grin in return. He looked down at his cell, typing out a couple messages just before Cora got to the truck, yelling about 'Lazy Chimera, or whatevver the fuck you are.'

He shoved his phone in his pocket and put it on silent, not waiting for Malia's response.

 

**_Theo: Wasn't alone anymore. No one heard. I got it. Keep looking for the truth. And hurry. I'll find a minute to call you later._ **

**_Theo: Don't panic, but I'm pretty sure I know who it is._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, for anyone who's following!


	8. And We'll Be There Soon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo has a plan. No one's gonna end up happy. But that's inevitable with a traitor in their midst.

Theo rifled through his bags in the poorly lit room. He pulled out a pair of clean socks and sat down on the bed in his boxer briefs, bracing himself and thundering steps came into the dark, empty cabin and pounded up the stairs. The door slammed open and Liam stormed in, waving his phone in the air.

"The hell is this?" Liam huffed. He shook his phone at Theo a couple times and then tossed it into the bed next to Theo.

The rest of both packs had just taken off for a midnight run in the woods, Stiles driving the non-wolves in his jeep along with them. Theo had sent Liam a text at the last minute asking him to stay behind.

"Can you wait til I have a bit more clothing on before you attack me, assface?" Theo arched an eyebrow as he bent over to pull on his socks. He didn't miss the way Liam huffed angrily again, blushing slightly as Theo brushed past him, still mostly-naked, and grabbed sweatpants from his bag. He pulled them on before turning to face the still pouty werewolf. "Alright, first of all..."

Liam abruptly found himself cocoon-ed in the chimera's massive arms, warmth radiating through his clothes from Theo's shower-damp skin.

"Theo, what the-" Liam flinched from emotional whiplash before placing his slightly colder hands on the taller man's ribcage, unsure if he should hug back.

"Liam, I love you. So fucking much. You're my best friend. I'm sorry that I've been a shit best friend in return." Theo mumbled into the side of Liam's beanie. Liam felt his heart unclench in his chest and his hands moved along the smooth skin of Theo's sides to rest gently on his back, returning the embrace, as Theo continued. "I've got so much going on right now, you don't even know... And yeah, I should have just told you everything from the beginning, but I was scared, which is stupid, but Liam, I promise... when we get back to Beacon Hills I will tell you everything, and I hope you'll understand."

Liam exhaled heavily into the bare skin of Theo's collarbone. He felt relaxed for the first time in days. Safe, in his best friend's arms. Home. He didn't know when he'd started thinking of Theo as his home, but there it was. His muscles felt weak, his head fuzzy, and all he knew was that this was his favorite place in the world.

"Second..." Theo tensed noticeably under Liam's fingertips, but did not move away. "I need you to seduce Cora."

Immediately, Liam felt his eyes light up in alarm as he struggled and fought to get out of Theo's embrace. The chimera just held tighter, hissing at him to calm down.

"What the fuck, Theo?! Let me go, or I'll fucking claw your face apart, you jerkoff." Liam painted, pushing with a larger percentage of his strength, until Theo released him, backing away with his hands up.

"Please hear me out! Please, Liam, please." Theo cried, staring straight into Liam's bright, feral gaze. "I don't need you to do anything with her, Liam, I just need you to flirt with her. Obviously. In front of everyone. Theres something going on with this pack, and I need you to get close to her. If this is about that girl you're dating at school, then you don't have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable or whatever. Look, I cant really explain why I need you to do this but..."

"Theo, what? It was one date, I'm not going out with Charlie.  She's just a friend!" Liam was still on the verge of wolfing out, and he glared back at his friend, shaking his head in confusion. Theo looked shocked, but ignored him and steamrolled ahead.

"Anyway, I can't really sell the whole... liking-women-thing. At least not to weres. And I cant ask Stiles , since Derek and him are like, madly in love and shit. I just... I need someone to do it. And fucking trust me, I don't want to see it. At all. But you're the only option, and I can't really see another way to do this."

Liam continued staring, eyes hard and unyielding. Theo looked miserable as he pled his case, Liam couldn't deny that. He was hunched in on himself, almost submissively. His eyes glittered with wetness under the soft light of the moon. He looked almost as hurt by this idea as Liam felt.

"Cora's in love with her ex." Liam whispered harshly, not wanting to give in to Theo.

"Yeah, but she doesn't want to be.  Their relationship didn't end as well as she likes to out on. Plus, Cora likes being free and flirting and fooling around. But yeah, she loves Kendra. Those Hales fall hard, especially when they shouldn't. You know about Derek's past and how hard it was for him to open up again, even though he'd been obsessed with Stiles forever." Theo whispered back, not wanting to break the fragile tension in the room.

"Yeah, I don't know Derek as well as you, I'm sure." Liam smirked unkindly.

"Liam, I swear that was nothing, which is why I didn't bring it up! God! I just..." Theo approached the angry werewolf cautiously, gaining a little more confidence as he didn't snarl or back away. "Please. I need your help.  Plus, Cora's like smoking hot.  It's not like this is a death sentence for you.  Maybe you'll hit it off."

Liam looked like he wanting to say something harsh, but instead he stepped away and slipped past Theo, flinching away from the hand that reached out to stop him.

"I'm gonna go see if I can catch up with them for a little. I don't wanna miss the sunrise over the bay." Liam said, leaving the room with haste.

Theo could hear the back door open and shut again. He sighed and threw himself back onto the bed. He winced at something digging into his shoulder blade, and he reached underneath his ribs to fish it out.

It was Liam's cell phone.

Theo's breath caught as he turned it on.

The lock screen was a picture of Theo and Liam together that he'd never seen, but was familiar all the same.

Surround by Belle, Aurora, Jasmine and Tinkerbell, in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, they were grinning wide and mischevious at the camera as the princesses leaned in toward the two other them with exaggerated puckered lips.

The chimera definitely remembered that moment. Because the background picture on his work-computer was the larger version, taken right after, as Theo's phone had been passed to a park attendant so that the whole pack could get in the fic. The group one was Theo's favorite, because as the picture was snapped, everyone had their arms wrapped around eachother, but Liam and Theo were smack-dab in the middle, grinning and staring at eachother like there was no one in the picture but the two of them.

Theo's heart stuck in his throat as he though of that day, when Liam had dragged the whole pack to Orange County on a holiday, just a few weeks before, simply because Theo, Malia, and surprisingly Derek, had never been. That was the day he was finally going to tell Liam how he felt, before Mason had started teasing the werewolf about the new girl at school that Liam had a date with the following week.

Theo was relieved to hear now, that there hadn't been a second one.

Theo threw the phone back on the bed beside him and cleared his throat. He could think about depressing shit later. He had work to do.

*****

"Oh my god, it's so nice in here!"

Stiles' voice rang out as he walked into the cabin, Corey and Mason following behind him. All bundled up in their coats from the chilly drive up to Emerald Bay to watch the werewolves run and play in the twilight.

"I set a fire going about an hour ago." Theo called from the kitchen.

All three trailed into the room, Corey and groaning as he smelled the bacon Theo had sizzling on the griddle.

"No!" Theo swatted the younger boy's grabby hands with a hot spatula. Corey pouted at him with wide eyes and pulled his hand away, nursing it. Theo's expression softened and he grabbed the were-chameleon's fingers, smacking an exaggerated kiss to where he'd smacked him. "Sorry, Corey. I didn't mean to hurt you, bub."

"Hey." Mason called out, still stripping off his coat. "Get your sexy-manwhore lips off my boyfriend, Raeken."

Theo held his spatula up in the air in surrender and went back to frying the 24 eggs he was making to feed the no-doubt ravenous pack members who were expected within the next few minutes.

"Hey, so, since they're not here..." Mason smiled mischeviously. "I'm dying to know. Who's a better kisser, Derek or Declan? Cause boy do both those men have mouths."

"I am right here, you gossip. That is my... mine. He's mine." Stiles called from his seat at the kitchen table. His eyes were wide an incredulous, but suddenly they narrowed and turned in Theo's direction. "Actually, I kinda wanna know too."

"I wouldn't know." Theo finished his batch of eggs, plating them on top of the others. He turned to glare at both of them, hands propped on his hips and rolled his eyes at their confused stares. "I didn't kiss Derek. On the mouth, at least."

"You slut!" Mason giggled loudly, a look of pure joy on his face as he sat down across from Stiles and started drinking water from his hydroflask.

"I'm not sure if that makes me feel better about the whole you-hooking-up-with-Der thing or worse." Stiles stared at him in shock. He shrugged, eyes still wide. "But like, at least it didn't turn out like Pretty Woman?"

"The best kiss I've ever had was Corey." Theo shrugged back, turning his head to the boy standing next to him at the stove. Said teen turned toward him, eyes wide, piece of freshly cooked bacon hanging from his lips. Theo frowned in disapproval just as Mason sprayed his water out of his mouth, hitting Stiles with quite a bit of it, before coughing profusely.

"I feel like that might have been karma." Stiles grumbled, wiping his face off with dismay.

"What." Mason hacked out, gasping. "The fuck." He coughed a few more times before taking a deep shudder breath at staring at his boyfriend with surprise. "You kissed Theo?"

"Babe, in my defense..." Corey crossed his arms, not impressed with the accusing tone in Mason's voice. "I made out with a lot of people before I dated you."

"Not making it any better!" Mason frowned, pointing at Theo. "And you! Now, you definitely keep your slutty, not at all sexy lips away from my boyfriend."

The back door flew open, drawing the attention of the four Beacon Hills residents.

"Jesus." Zayn huffed, walking through the doorway in cutoff jeans and nothing else. He stared at the two by the stove with a smirk. "Theo really is the town bicycle. Corey too, bro?"

"Yeah, well, Corey kissed like 3 guys that night." Liam followed close behind, giggling, carrying a similarly joyful Cora on his back. "In fact, Corey's definitely been with like at least twice the amount of people that Theo has, so if we're talking Beacon Hills town bicycle, and not pack-bicycle..."

"Hey! How do you know that they kissed, and what other two guys, and why are we discussing my boyfriend's prior sexual proclivity?"

"Now you know how it feels!" Stiles frowns, still wiping Mason's spit-water off of his ear.

"You're all gorgeous." Cora smiled nuzzling into Liam's hair. "I have no idea how you're not all screwing eachother, all the time."

"It's called willpower." Derek frowned, following the rest of his sister's pack in the door and shutting it.  Theo noticed that Kendra seemed to be wearing a rather perturbed expression.  He slumped his shoulders a little in relief as he noticed his plan starting to come together.

"Overrated." Cora punctuated her statement with a kiss to Liam's temple before tapping his arm to let her down. She continued on into the living room to sit by the fire, a bickering Corey and Mason following behind them.

"If you guys wanna get changed or whatever, I'll have hash browns, eggs and bacon ready in about 5 minutes." Theo broke the silence that followed Cora and the couple's departure.

"That's very sweet of you, Theo." Declan drawled happily, obviously tired from the run. Everyone else chorused out variations of 'thanks, Theo' and made themselves scarce.

Liam remained in the kitchen.

Theo stared at him blankly, hoping he'd understand the 'thank you' that he was trying to convey with a look.

Liam nodded, laughter gone from his face, and left the room.


	9. Sun is the Color of Blood in My Mouth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This DID NOT go as planned.

Liam wandered into the living room close to sundown, noting the low count of heartbeats present within the cabin.

Cora was strewn across the carpet, right in front of the fireplace. She was in a pair of shorts and a sports bra. Her hair looked damp.

"You finally stopped snorrring." She groaned, tilting her head to look up at Liam.

"I don't snore. I didn't mean to take that long a nap." He reached a foot out to jab her in the side with a toe. She giggled, but barely flinched away. "Did you go in the spa?"

"Nah." Cora yawned and shook her head. She stretched and Liam couldn't help checking her out. "I went for a dip in the lake. Everyone else is still out there. Corey and the humans went to go hit the slopes. Did you know that anyone who lives in these homes gets a free pass to Heavenly?"

Liam's eyes darted back up to her face, where she was wearing a predatory grin, emphasized by the glow of the crackling fire.

"Puppy, I'm curious about something." Cora stretched her arms out, making grabby hands at the other wolf. He rolled his eyes, endeared.

"What." Liam grumbled as he approached the younger Hale sibling, who he'd been spending a lot of time with in the past couple days, just as Theo had requested. He had seen Theo hanging out, trying to fade into the background as they've traipsed around Tahoe, trying to shake off the stress and grief of the past couple weeks. The chimera had been observing Declan's pack fairly intensely in the past 24 hours.

Liam was getting more and more curious, but he trusted Theo. Plus spending time with Cora was nice. Liam sat down beside her on the floor, elbows propped up on his knees as he stared at the beautiful woman. They stayed like that for a minute, enjoying the warmth of the fire before Cora finally spoke.

"Why are you acting weird?" Cora tilted her head toward Liam. He frowned and met her eyes, confused. She smiled and turned over, getting on all fours and crawling across the rug until she was behind Liam. She sat down behind him, long tan legs stretched outside his. She out her arms around his torso and cuddled against his broad back. "Why have you been flirting with me so much when you're in love with someone else."

Liam tensed, but Cora just laughed into his shoulder blade.

"I'm not mad, Liam." Cora mumbled into his shirt, nuzzling into the fabric. Liam relaxed, but stayed silent. "I like it. You know me. Tactile and horny."

Liam laughed, grabbing one of her hands that was wrapped around his waist.

"I really like you, Cora." Liam smiled, lacing their fingers together. "I like how blunt you are."

"Yeah, well..." Cora sighed and squeezed his hand back. "When you've been through what I have, you don't really feel like there's ever a reason to lie."

"Are you gonna stop cuddling me if I answer your question and you don't like it?" Liam whined.

"You're a brat." Cora answered. "But no, of course not."

"I can't tell you why." Liam said. "Its not... I just can't go into it right now, but I'm not trying to use you to make someone jealous or anything like that."

Cora didn't move at all, and they stayed like that for two or three more minutes before she sighed heavily, hot sir spreading across Liam's skin as she did so.

"You need to talk to him, puppy." Cora whispered. "He doesn't know how you feel."

Liam was speechless. No one had actually said it out loud before, not like that. The conversation was halfway between suffocating and liberating.

"I'm guessing you still want me to play along?" Cora smirked and let go of Liam's hand as her own wandered lower on his waist before starting to push his shirt up his torso. Liam let her pull the shirt up and over his head and arms.

"Yeah, that'd be great and I am 100% not complaining, but..." Liam hummed as she threw the shirt away and went back to holding his waist. "I feel like this is going slightly beyond the request of playing along."

"I'm not making a move, you dork." Cora giggled into his spine. "If we're putting on a show, I just wanna make it good.

The back door flew open, a gust of cold air sweeping in with it.

"Oh my God, that was hilarious!" Declan wailed, the entire pack following in, damp and smiling.

"Yeah it was, you should've seen your face." Zayn said, continuing into the house, gaze landing on Cora and Liam by the fire. "Oh heyyy guys, so you came back early so you could cuddle with jailbait over here, eh?"

"I'm not-"

"Yeah, I came back and he was snoring. It was adorable." Cora interrupted Liam's protests. She squeezed him closer as they both looked to their right at the wolves entering the room. Cora noticed Theo hanging to the back. She followed his intense gaze, which was surprisingly not on Liam, but on one of her pack members.

"I do not snore." Liam grunted, wiggling out of her clingy embrace and standing up. He held a hand out to Cora to help her up instead. The pair walked into the kitchen area of the open floorplan cabin. Liam took a seat at the dining table and pulled Cora easily into his lap. He could feel a pair of eyes burning into him, but Liam refused to look around, combing a hand through his hand through his hair and meeting Derek's gaze.

"How was the lake?" He asked the eldest wolf. "Did you break Peter's SeaDoo?"

Derek and a couple of the others laughed loudly at that.

"Actually..." Declan said, still toweling off his long hair. "Derek's ran out of gas out in the middle of the lake and he just kind of said 'fuck it's and hopped on Theo's instead."

Liam and Cora laughed along with everyone until Theo stepped forward suddenly, glaring at Cora.

"I need to talk to you Cora. It's about Scott and Malia." Theo spit out through clenched teeth. "They have some questions about the whereabouts of any Hale family that might still be alive."

Liam squinted up at his friend, and the chimera had a steady heartbeat but his gaze, which only Cora and Liam could see was livid, dangerous. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he looked away from Theo in favor of reading a new next from Scott.

"Wouldn't Derek be more suited? Y'know you're right, nevermind, he doesn't ever know anything." Cora smiled but eyed Theo suspiciously. She stood up and jerked her head in the direction of the door. "Meet me outside, I'll throw some clothes on and we'll go for a walk."

Liam pocketed his phone and stood up right behind Cora, squeezing past her and going to stand next to Zayn.

"Hey man, since you're the driest out of these losers, you wanna go grab food for everyone with me?" Liam spoke quickly, awkwardly, and Zayn gave him an annoyed look but nodded, probably mostly out of curiosity. "Great. Great! Theo, I need to borrow the truck. We'll be back."

The group stared at Liam as he tugged on Zayns arm forcefully, leading him to the door, grabbing Theo's keys without waiting to a response. Within seconds, the door slammed behind them with a thud.

Liam was starting the ignition and pulling onto the street before Zayn was even fully in the car.

*****

"Cora, I need to tell you something..." Theo paced back and forth on the concrete. In front of AutoZone. There was still quite a bit of ice from the snowfall the weekend before they'd arrived. They'd walled toward the main road, Theo directing them with purpose before stopping suddenly at a parking lot. Theo kicked at a chunk of particularly white ice and heaved a sigh.

"Is it that you're in love with Liam and want me to stop touching him?" Cora crossed her arms and raised an unimpressed brow at the chimera.

"What! No." Theo looked at her in alarm and then shook his head. He looked down at his feet and then back up into her judgmental gaze. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes, but you knew that I knew so, that leaves us at why you would tell him to flirt with me." Cora said. She moved closer to him, trying to show trust and understanding.

"I swore." Theo smiled sadly. "I swore I was being sneaky."

"I'm the only one on to you, Theo. What is it?" Cora pleaded.

"Not anymore." Theo tensed. Suddenly, Theo's truck and Argents SUV pulled into the empty AutoZone parking lot. "I... we need to tell you something."

Cora's eyes flew wide open in confusion as 4 wolves exited the two cars, as well and a human man she was unfortunately more than familiar with.

"Cora." Christ Argent spoke carefully, pity was written across his face in a way that Cora hadn't seen since she was nine years old and woke up in a foreign country, a strange werewolf telling her that her entire pack was dead.  Cora's breath caught and she looked to her eldest packmate, Zayn, standing in the corner.  He had the same look as Argent, but more terrified.

Scott spoke finally, drawing her attention.

"Cora.  We have a problem."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry this fic is so slow. Please send me angry messages. <3


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